In his 21 years as an aluminium window, doors and fittings fabricator and installer, Lukmon Adio has never been so disappointed like on April 28,2024.
That day, a rich client of his, who fixed his housewarming to coincide with his wife’s birthday, fell from the new house’s balcony whose aluminium holding was loosely tightened and with wrong screws by one of his apprentices.
The furious Isolo, Lagos-based 43-year-old Adio would have skinned alive Ganiyu (19 years), his apprentice, who is popularly called Gani B, if he was anywhere closer to him that day.
Sadly, Gani B has never returned to finish his three-year apprenticeship, rather he has joined some of his secondary school mates on the street for ‘soft-money’ or wealth without sweat.
“Dis na suffer suffer work, I no wan suffer,” Gani B was said to always tell his fellow apprentices, whenever his master scolds him for laziness or poor output.
As regrettable as Gani B’s case is, Uche Okenye’s case is worse.
The qualified mechanic had things going for him in all positive fronts because of his good skills for car repairs; three skilled technicians, five apprentices, a barrage of customers, including some medium-sized companies and a steady genuine spare parts supply by an auto parts dealer.
Sadly again, the master mechanic succumbed to peer pressure, abandoned his thriving workshop and travelled to Malaysia for ‘greener pasture’, following two other colleagues, who did same earlier and were said to have built hotels among other investments in town.
The unlucky Okenye, who is positively wired, couldn’t fit into what others do abroad. He returned after one year to meet an abandoned workshop, one of his skilled workers now does Uber, three of his five former apprentices now hustling on the streets and his former customers more disappointed in him.
Okenye, who is equally disappointed in himself for sacrificing a thriving career for ‘dirty hustling’ in Malaysia, also frowned at his barber, who people around said now rides ‘Okada’, commercial motorcycle.
The above scenarios are realities and pointers to the fact that apprenticeship is in danger in Nigeria as the youth are bitten by the get-rich-quick syndrome, leaving a huge deficit of skilled manpower that is negatively impacting unemployment and worsening the already battered economy.
Out there, there is hardly a good vulcanizer, skilled plumber, trained bricklayer and tiler, while qualified auto mechanics and electricians are rare.
As well, female tailors and hairdressers are increasingly abandoning their craft for the easy commission from the Point of Sales (POS) cash business, commercial tricycle and Korokpe bus.
Even in the South-East zone of Nigeria, where apprenticeship is valued most, most business owners are decrying of the year-on-year dwindling number of apprenticeships across major skills and trades.
Ifeanyi Ozoenyi, an auto sparts dealer, who grew from a seven-year apprenticeship to become an importer of new and old motor spare parts in Aba, Abia State, decried that the youth of today do not have the patience of seven years grooming and half of those who managed to finish are doing other things, from internet fraud, kidnapping, robbery, music, politics and anything that gives easy and bulk money.
“The youth have realised that the core reason for struggling in life is to make money and live the life one desires. So, instead of passing through the process and waiting for their time, they go straight to the money.
“It is sad, even my children who went to good schools don’t see my business empire as big enough to inherit. They want their own life and money. It is sad and a cancer that is killing the family, our society and the economy,” Ozoenyi said.
Explaining how much problem the increasing rate of abandonment of apprenticeships and acquired skills by the youth has become, Marcel Olisaemeka, a trained building engineer and real estate developer, noted that there is hardly any project that is completed on time nowadays because of the lack of skilled hands.
With few skilled hands out there, he noted that contractors struggle, as completion of projects is delayed, less money exchanges hands, and more money spent to employ skilled workers from other African countries now.
With the dearth of skilled Nigerian draftsmen, a sad development that is worsening every day, most contractors, according to him, are now resorting to foreign workers because clients are after quality finishing.
“I have a number of draftsmen in my company. But the number keeps diminishing every day. Muktar has not returned since the last Ileya, they said he is driving Korokpe bus now, Mufu joined politics, Isaac left for Senegal last December, with the hope of travelling to France from there, and the remaining are not skilled enough and may leave too.
“So, we have employed people from Benin Republic, Togo and Ghana in their place and we have rest of mind. They are more detailed in their work and obey instructions,” Olisaemeka said.
Also, the increasing rate of abandonment of apprenticeships by the youth, according to the Sub-Saharan African Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network, is impacting unemployment hugely considering the huge population of youth in Nigeria, and the fact that paper certificates are no longer guarantee for jobs, but additional skills.
For the network, Nigeria has a huge youth population, with a median age of 18.1 years. The fact that roughly 70 percent of the population falls below 30 years of age and 42 percent are younger than 15, is huge concern for the future of the country.
Again, a grave consequence of the problem is obvious with the employment of 11,000 skilled workers from India by the Dangote Refinery, neglecting youths from Nigeria and other African countries.
Though Sub-Saharan African Skills and Apprenticeship Stakeholders Network kicked against it, the argument is that if Nigeria had enough skilled personnel, Dangote Refinery would have employed more from within, as it would be cheaper and safer to do so.
But why are Nigerian youth losing interest in the acquisition of self-reliant skills, if one may ask.
Of course, the reasons are obvious. Many of today’s youth are interested in ‘soft money’ or instant wealth, without labouring for it, hence, the increasing number of scammers, particularly ‘Yahoo boys’, kidnappers, robbers, among others, whose motive is to make instant wealth.
Read also: Participants in FG’s apprenticeship scheme drops 160% in two years
Speaking from his ugly experience, Okenye noted that it was the quest to make instant money, as promised by his friends, that lured him to join them in Malaysia.
“I wanted to make some money to buy the land where my workshop is, expand it and also live large.
“But many Nigerians are in prison over there for the crimes they committed and others they did not commit. I couldn’t live that kind of life; to be hunted and you always live in fear. So, where is the green pasture. “Our brothers and friends are not telling us the truth, there is no soft money, but evil money because you defraud others to live large. Nemesis will always catch up with you, no matter how long it takes,” Okenye warned.
On his part, Adio noted that with alumaco fabrication and installation, one can live large, but only needs to be skillful, honest and patient.
“I am living in my own house with three tenants. I have a small space I am developing for lockup shops, I have also setup a wholesale provision business for my wife and my three children are in good schools in Isolo and Anthony Village. I did not steal to get the money; it is from my sweat. But today’s apprentices are in a haste to learn, start and many are abandoning their apprenticeship half way,” Adio lamented.
Ebun Fakaye, a psychologist and senior lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, blamed the challenge on the society, especially the flaunting of wealth by the rich and the lack of punishment for corruption.
“We all have families. If people are stealing and getting away with it, if the least qualified are getting the best jobs, if the values one is keeping are being laughed at, what do you expect. That is why many don’t have the moral courage to challenge their children from engaging in crime today,” the university don said.
She argued that in a society where values are fast eroding, where corrupt people are celebrated, the youth will switch easily to the reality, which is to make money any how you can; hence honest jobs groomed through years of apprenticeship are no longer attractive to the youth and even most parents.
Toeing same line, Madelin Okwo, a lawyer and senior banker, who takes interest in youth guidance and counselling, regretted that the youth are move by the reality of our time, which is money, money and money.
“I was sad when a young, promising and brilliant chap left our bank. He worked in IT, my department, and I did everything to discourage him from leaving because he was good and earning well. He is in Canada now and not in the banking sector, but using his IT skills for the wrong reasons.
“He is making serious, but questionable money over there. I hope the authorities will not catch him. Sadly, he is from a rich home and you wonder, what the quest for money is all about,” Okwo decried.
Speaking further the lawyer noted that some unscrupulous elements in the banking system and the weak legislation and legal system in the country are encouraging corruption, hence fueling the desire of many to make instant money and luring the youth out of school and apprenticeship to join the instant money train.
Olisaemeka blamed the challenge on low enrolment in technical schools across the country due to the wrong attitude of the youth and parents toward vocational education in Nigeria.
“University is all about paper certificate, technical schools build you practically. I went to a technical school in Warri before proceeding to university and the skills I acquired there are even more relevant today than my degree certificate because technical schools are all about practical and you learn with demonstrations,” he said.
Offering solutions, Chijioke Umelahi, a former Abia lawmaker, pointed governments at all levels to be innovative with the agricultural sector, which he noted, can employ all the youth.
“During his time as the premier of Eastern Nigeria, Michael Okpara created farm settlements with modern housing and recreational facilities that lured many to farming.
“Create such Agric clusters, add entertainment to it, bring gainful exchanges to it, subsidise where necessary and guarantee purchase of farm proceeds from the youth farmers to ensure steady income, then ‘Yahoo plus’ or ‘minus’ will be a thing of the past. It will work because it has worked before the oil boom killed it,” Umelahi advised the government.
Okwo and Fakaye called for stiffer punishments for corruption, and not just three months detention in a luxurious part of the cell or home arrest for culprits.
“Investigate, prosecute, jail and most importantly, confiscate all money stolen by the culprits and let Nigerians see and know what the funds were used for.
“If the youth see that fraud is no longer paying, they will change. But as long as top government officials keep embezzling our money in billions, politicians flaunt their wealth and fraudsters live large, the youth will follow same way because that is what the society has approved, in their observations,” Fakaye said.
Olisaemeka thinks that the government should go back to technical education, giving legislative backing to skills from such schools.
“Imagine when skills acquired from technical schools are better paid for than degrees, many will shift to skills. With technical school, you can establish on your own, but university graduates roam the streets the most,” he noted.
Whatever the advice or solutions proffered, most concerned Nigerians think that the change should start from the families and the society as a fraudster, kidnapper or robber has a home.
Meanwhile, religious organisations are not spared as often than not, they hardly live up to expectations, in upholding the moral standards and other virtues they preach. In some cases, those accused of corruption are still romancing holy places, pundits observed.
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